With less than two hours until the 2014 legislative session ended, the House voted 168 to 2 to approve the limited use of medical marijuana for seizure patients sending the bill back to the Senate, but the bill was never brought to the floor for a vote as time ran out.

The bill would have allowed families to use cannabis oil to treat some seizure disorders. Supporters say the use of the oil helps patients deal with the disorder that can cause hundreds of seizures a day and can be deadly in some instances. The oil comes from the marijuana plant, but supporters said it does not provide a high.

The Senate unanimously approved the original bill, but an amendment was attached to it requiring insurance companies to cover the cost of treating autism in children. That put both proposals in jeopardy when representative Allen Peake, (R) Macon, the author of the marijuana bill, said he did not support the insurance mandate which was proposed by GA. Sen. Renee Unterman. The Senate did vote to study medical marijuana over the next year, but the lack of movement on the marijuana and autism bill was disappointing to many.

“We gave them a clean bill that would provide protection from prosecution from possession of cannabis oil when it was obtained legally from another state. We felt like the focus needed to be on that. It was a big first step for our state, and it didn’t need to be tied up with any other bill, and they chose not to vote on it and I am disappointed in that,” said Peake.

“Everybody loses not just the children with disabilities, not just the parents fighting for their own children. It costs all of us as more children suffer, and that is an insurmountable problem and you can not put a dollar amount on that,” said Melissa Soleris, the mother of a child with autism.

9 comments

caliboss

the greatest plant in the universe is almost free, LET FREEDOM RING! 13

of course the bill failed, it's Georgia, 20 years behind us

Senator Kimberly Yee of Arizona (republican) is denying a marijuana research bill for vetarans, she should be jailed

"any doctor against marijuana is a doctor of death" – cali secret 420

from 0 states to half the country, from low 20% approval to almost 70%, cali runs this planet by 2 decades, time to tie marijuana to the 2014, 2016 elections, out with the old, in with the new

20 years behind us southern states, sad and scary….nobody denies freedoms like the south, nobody…the top ten incarcerators on the planet are southern states…even if marijuana reforms did pass the republiCANTS in charge would deny you all your freedoms, centuries of practice…no matter though, we never planned on getting your backwards brethren from day one, half the country already but not one southern state, lol…not 1….my turn, I gave you 20 years, watch and learn

Deaths by Alcohol and Tobacco: Millions
Deaths by Prescription Drugs: Quadrupled in last decade
Deaths by Guns: Millions
Deaths by Marijuana: 0, ever…they are killing my American family while denying freedom